Tonight’s question is: Do you think the issuance of cheques by the BAA on behalf of Minister of State Castro is corrupt or distasteful? Send your comments and responses using your SMART phones to 8686 or post your vote on our e-poll at channel5belize.com. You can also send an email with your comments to questions@channel5belize.com.
Councilor Eric Chang has been in the hot seat in respect of the immigration scandal. Chang allegedly had a role in the passport issued to Won Hong Kim, the South Korean fugitive. Chang was in Taipei when the scandal broke. Kim, who was in a jail at the same time in Taipei, had obtained Belizean […]
Minister of State in the Ministry of Transport, Edmond Castro, has been in the hot seat for some time. But this time, he came under fire after Belize Airports Authority cheques surfaced, along with the allegations that the statutory body had been playing a second role as the Minister’s cash cow. At the House meeting […]
Last Friday, we reported that a parcel of land used as a park in the Orange Walk East Constituency had ended up in the hands of the politically connected Aragon family. The issue had been brewing for some time, but with one member of the Aragon clan, Elodio Aragon Junior, running in a convention for […]
According to the Aragon family, a smear campaign was prompted from within the U.D.P. camp by the constituency caretaker; Orlando “Landy” Burns, in an effort to hurt the political career of Elodio Aragon Junior. Aragon Junior will be running against David Constanza for the spot as the U.D.P. standard bearer for the East constituency. So […]
On New Year’s Day, thirty year old Hensleigh Ryan Jones allegedly picked up a gun and shot his father three times in the head. Miraculously, Hensley ‘Nick’ Jones survived, and on January third, his son was arraigned in the Orange Walk Magistrate’s Court for attempted murder and use of deadly means of harm. He was […]
There was a sensational conviction in court today. A police corporal was convicted this afternoon inside the courtroom of Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith in a trial that began six months ago. The forty year old officer Gino Peck is looking at a minimum sentence of five years on each count for ammunition charges. The […]
But in the regional Caribbean Court of Justice, a judgment was handed down last Friday concerning a challenge to an amendment to the Supreme Court of Judicature Act. The parties to the CCJ appeal were the Attorney General of Belize as well as Philip Zuniga and others as respondents and the BCB Holdings and others […]
The 2013-2014 Sugar Cane Crop Season got off to a late start this past Friday after months of delay. The cane farmers and the Belize Sugar Industries were at odds since September of last year after the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association walked away from the negotiation table when B.S.I. refused to entertain any discussions […]
The Chiquibul Forest Reserve has seen increased national exposure following a symposium which drew attention to the park, its benefits and challenges. One of the biggest challenges in recent years has been incursions by Guatemalans, who cross the border to take advantage of the natural wealth within the boundaries of the Chiquibul. While the traditional […]
This morning teachers from the Cayo District Branch of the Belize National Teachers Union gathered at the Macal Park in San Ignacio. This is the fourth of ten peaceful protests planned by the union as it seeks to be heard on the salary adjustment and other pressing issues. Today’s gathering is the first since the […]
Three passport officers are still on suspension for their alleged involvement in the Won Hong Kim passport scandal. There has been no public disclosure of evidence against them, or indeed of their particular roles, but they were sent on suspension less than two weeks after the scandal broke. Those public officers, Sharon Neal, Erwin Robinson […]
Minister Hulse also commented on the report compiled by the Department of Immigration on the nationality section. News Five broke the story of the Won Hong Kim report, which was finished more than three months ago on October fourth, 2013. That document makes very specific reference to how the system was compromised, offers a direct […]
Smoke billowed from the mills at the Tower Hill Factory. Long and at last, at ten this morning, delivery of sugar cane began in earnest. The 2014 season is delayed by eight weeks and the horrible road conditions are making a very bad situation worse for farmers who are unable to access their cane fields. […]
Minister of State Edmond Castro and the Belize Airports Authority—a politician and his personal piggy bank… The story of cheques drawn on the BAA’s account and made out to Castro, his friends and family and to pay his personal and political debts is a sordid one. The story broke wide open on News Five on […]
Did Edmond Castro cross the line when he used his authority as Minister in charge of the Belize Airports Authority to get his hands on public monies? Prime Minister Dean Barrow says he didn’t, at least not legally. But legalese aside, corruption is corruption, and the court of public perception has already judged Castro fit […]
And for more comment, News Five also went to the man who, at least before he walked the hallowed halls of government, was an anti-corruption champion and a relentless warrior against wrongdoing. Minister Godwin Hulse didn’t deign to give his opinion on the Castro check controversy, but he did spend some time trying to explain […]
The Norwegian Cruise Line proposed port on Harvest Caye has been somewhat on the backburner lately, but for tourism stakeholders and residents in the south, it is certainly up front and personal. The topic resurrected with a vengeance on Wednesday night, when NCL executives stopped off in Independence for a community consultation facilitated by the […]
The discussion was tense on Wednesday because the proposed NCL tourism port is such a big deal for all involved. But perhaps the situation has been exacerbated by a perception that the project is already a done deal…that the consultations are just for show and the project has already been given a green light by […]
On Wednesday, the House meeting lasted more than five hours, and a lot came out of it. We brought you the meat of the day on Wednesday, but tonight we have the gravy. Swimming in that gravy is the statutory body turned personal piggy bank, which is now the subject of intense scrutiny. At the […]
In various sectors, there is open concern that the government has not signed to an OAS anti-corruption convention called the MESICIC which stands for the Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of Inter-American Convention against Corruption. And with so many cases of corruption rearing its ugly head, the Chamber took umbrage to thousands of dollars […]
The 2013-2014 sugar cane crop season starts on Friday. It’s long delayed, and conditions are not optimal. To make it worse, it is raining today in the north. Still, the show must go on and early Friday morning, trucks will be lined up at B.S.I. to discharge sugar cane. While that’s the situation on the […]
Teachers will hold a protest march and rally in San Ignacio on Friday. As it has been since it started, the peaceful industrial action is a source of frustration for Minister of Education Patrick Faber. He spent the better part of an hour and a half on the topic at Wednesday’s House meeting. Faber claimed […]
You heard the Minister lash out at the teachers for taking time off for industrial action and at the Chamber of Commerce for daring to support salary adjustment for the teachers. Well, the Chamber of Commerce responded in kind saying that the minister did not get the context of their statement. And furthermore, it is […]
Today was the first sitting of the House of Representatives for 2014. And as has become practice rather than rule, sparks flew across from both sides of the aisle. Now, numerous bills were tabled and one was fast tracked through the three stages. But we start first with a story we had been following involving […]
